The Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement and Daviess County will partner to address community-identified projects through the center’s Sustaining Hoosier Communities initiative.
Sustaining Hoosier Communities connects IU Bloomington faculty, their courses and the energy of hundreds of students to address a variety of projects, including health and wellness, infrastructure planning and natural resources management. Representing an estimated value of $150,000 in research, inquiry and implementation hours, the initiative brings an extensive suite of university resources to the partnership. It received international recognition as the 2019 Outstanding Program of the Year from the Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities-Network.
“Over the past several years, the residents of Daviess County have had the opportunity to engage with regional, state and university partners in a variety of planning programs that have identified what we feel is needed to help local communities thrive,” Washington, Indiana, Mayor David Rhoads said. “Sustaining Hoosier Communities will be able to pair local projects with students to have a great impact, and it will be satisfying to see these projects identified and implemented in all areas of Daviess County.”
This expanded partnership builds upon years of collaboration between Daviess County and IU. County organizations conducted community health improvement planning and secured a $1 million U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration grant to increase access to substance-use-disorder recovery with associate professor Priscilla Barnes and the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington. The community launched a food-as-medicine program and joined a comprehensive regional resources hub, hoosierhelp.org, with IU and Purdue University as part of the Indiana Department of Health I-HOPE initiative.
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Categories: Indiana, Education